July 31-August 1 2006

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Monday:

 

Lihue, Kauai – 82F
Honolulu, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 86
Kahului, Maui – 91
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 86

 

Temperatures early Tuesday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 4 a.m. hour:

 

HONOLULU, OAHU – 77
HILO AIRPORT – 69

 


Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours (as of Tuesday morning) on each of the major islands:

 

2.74 LIHUE AIRPORT, KAUAI
1.66 PUNALUU PUMP, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.02 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.19 OHEO GULCH, MAUI
0.46 WAIKII, BIG ISLAND

 

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a moderately strong 1034 millibar high pressure system located far to the NW of our islands. Meanwhile, a trough of low pressure will pass close to the state Tuesday…keeping our local winds light east to SE. This trough will move away to the north Wednsday, allowing the trade winds to return then. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those weather symbols mean on the map.

 

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon cloud conditions.

 

Satellite Images – To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean…out from the islands. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

 
Tropical Cyclone Activity – The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30…while the central Pacific (where Hawaii is) runs from June 1 through November 30. The latest storm information for the eastern Pacific can be found by clicking here. A storm tracking map for both the central and eastern areas can be found by clicking here . For the central Pacific, the latest storm information can be found by clicking here.

Aloha Paragraphs

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 Large summer waves in Hawaii now…
 

A low pressure system aloft will at least partially block our regular summer trade winds through Tuesday. This will have several influences in our Hawaiian Island weather picture…not the least of which will be to keep our overlying atmosphere quite sultry and humid. As this trough of low pressure passes across our area of the central north Pacific, our winds will be much lighter than normal for this time of year. The late July, early August sunshine meanwhile will be beaming down like crazy, with hot and muggy weather conditions making for a somewhat uncomfortable reality for a couple of days.

All that sunshine, combined with the humid air, will be the ingredients for shower prone conditions. The presence of the cold air aloft, in association the low pressure around now, will make for an unstable air mass. All of this will add up to an increased chance of afternoon cumulus cloud buildups over the interior sections of all the islands now. Those towering clouds will drop showers locally, some of which will be locally heavy. As the sun goes down, the islands will stop being “heating pads”, and the clouds will evaporate in most areas.

We call these types of meteorological conditions a convective weather pattern. Often we start off with slightly cooler than normal temperatures early on, then as the day progresses, we see that afternoon cloudiness described above. There’s a chance that we could some of those showers become localized flooders, although that would be only here and there at most. The expectation is that this rainfall inducing trough of low pressure will move away to the NW by Wednesday. This in turn will make way for the return of a regular trade wind weather pattern…putting an end to the sultry conditions, and returning the bias for showers to the windward sides.

The big news in Hawaii now, besides the unusual weather caused by the low pressure system, is the larger than normal surf along our south and west facing beaches. These waves were generated by a deep winter storm in the southern hemisphere more than a week ago. This storm had hurricane force winds revolving around its center, down near New Zealand. It has triggered a high surf advisory along our leeward beaches, which means that folks here in the islands should exercise caution when entering the ocean. A second reinforcing SSW swell will arrive around mid-week, which will keep the larger than normal surf around through the rest of this week.

It’s early Monday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this sunset commentary. It was a hot day, especially down near the beaches. Case in point, the Kahului airport hit 91F degrees in the afternoon, while Kihei and Lahaina both were at least that hot…and perhaps a degree or two more. There was lots of sunshine at most coastal locations, although clouds stacked-up nicely, right on schedule, during the afternoon hours over and around the mountains. [There was a brief period of flooding rainfall that fell over parts of Oahu Monday afternoon.] As I was driving home, coming up past Pukalani, it started to rain, with the roads wet all the way to my house in upper Kula. Glancing back downcountry, it appears that the clouds have slid down towards the beaches now, although I don’t see any precipitation falling down there. I’m quite sure, due to the factors described in the paragraphs above, that we’ll see a repeat performance of today on Tuesday. By the way, we have two new tropical cyclones now active in the eastern Pacific, neither of which are a threat to our Hawaiian Islands. I hope you have a good Monday night, and that you will join me here again on Tuesday, for more updated weather information then. Aloha for now…Glenn.

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